The poems of Backmasking uncover secret messages of rock and roll in relation to religion, mostly in a loose sonnet form reminiscent of David Wojahn's classic, Mystery Train. Set mainly in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama, these narrative poems, spun in reverse, detail a young man's ascent into the glittery world of guitar heroes, all the while singing out the day-to-day absurdities of the sacred and the profane.